CLOSER TO HOME
The Baywatch beauty found an ideal family home away from the beach
Baywatch’s Donna D’Errico tours Closer through her Tuscanstyle LA estate.
People often think I live in Malibu because of Baywatch,” Donna D’Errico, the show’s gorgeous former star, tells Closer. And she did until around 2010, when she found more freedom — and a new Tuscan-style home — in LA’s San Fernando Valley. “I loved Malibu, but if you have a meeting in the city, getting there is an all-day venture. You’re often stuck in the parking lot that the Pacific Coast Highway can be,” Donna, 49, shares. “Here, I can basically be anywhere I need to in 20 minutes, and it really has that ‘borrowing a cup of sugar from the neighbor’ feel.” Donna, her son Rhyan, 24, and daughter Frankie-Jean, 16, love the affordable
By GREGG GOLDSTEIN
yet luxurious five-bedroom, four-and-a-half bath home she found four years ago. But while most people are friendly (“The local produce guy will say, ‘Hi, Donna, the apples are fresh today!’ ”), not all of them would appreciate her borrowing that cup of sugar.
“I have some lovely neighbors with three kids. I was trying to talk to the husband, who’s also in entertainment, about getting some projects produced but I wasn’t hearing back,” she recalls with a laugh. “Then it dawned on me, [the wife’s probably thinking,] ‘The single, former Playboy model-Baywatch chick is talking to my husband?’ If I were in that situation, I’d [react] the same way!”
But the neighbor’s wife doesn’t have to worry. Donna only has eyes for her home’s arched doorways and winding wrought-iron staircase. “I completely fell in love with the Mediterranean look,” she says. “It has such a cathedral feel to it.”
There’s plenty of room in the nearly 3,300-square-foot home, including its spacious gourmet kitchen. Stepping through
“Both my kids are good
people to know and so smart. I’m very, very proud!”
— Donna (with Frankie-Jean in 2016)
the two-story entranceway into the elegant “great room,” a visitor sees the grand piano that classically-trained Rhyan often plays. Donna chose the room’s tan decor to match the hardwood and stone floors, and she added angels and crosses, reflecting her faith, which is “a huge part of my life.”
Despite having some Baywatch memorabilia, it might surprise people to learn the former wild child, once married to Frankie-Jean’s dad, Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx, doesn’t have a pool. “That’s the one thing I wish I had,” she admits, “but there are some secret beaches where I’m not really bothered — [as long as I] never wear red!”
Mostly they invite over pals of Rhyan (a film composer who’s graduating college next year) and Frankie-Jean, who enjoy hanging in the TV/family room. “I cook every night for my kids and their friends,” she says.
The Alabama-born, Georgia-raised star feels so attached to the area, she’ll be running for LA County Board Supervisor in her district in 2018. “I’m a Valley girl now!”
— Reporting by Steve Gidlow